Ed's c.1250-1300 kit(s)

[Sir Edward]

The crest+torse probably won't be ready for tomorrow's outing, but I'm tempted to give it one last quick shot tonight. I'll have to make a mantle that wraps around the base of the crest... maybe I'll pick up some velcro strips. If I do get it to work,  I may only wear it briefly and then put it away.

(yes, I know velcro and magnets aren't exactly period... but if they're hidden, who cares??)

[Das Bill]

(yes, I know velcro and magnets aren't exactly period... but if they're hidden, who cares??)

Jesus will know, Ed.

[Sir Edward]

Haha, lol... well, more importantly, I'll know... but I decided long ago that I won't fret about things which I can hide.

[Sir Edward]

Yay, I finally got to try out the crest/mantle/torse:

   

(clicky)

[Sir Wolf]

awesome!

[Sir Brian]

Your crest, mantle and torse were superb sir! You did a magnificent
job on putting it together and under the added duress of a tight timeline!

I like this picture because we look like some knights on campaign
...or a knight of the round belly in my case...REALLY its the armor all
bunched up and not a beer gut! 

[Sir Edward]

Thank you, sir! Yours looks magnificent, as always as well!

Hah, yes the armor tends to be very unflattering in places. I've noticed that. It tends to exaggerate one's gut. I keep lamenting that in most of my photos as well.

[Sir Wolf]

hahahah reminds me of the time a buddy tried on my rivetted shirt for the first time.he's a big guy and the day was almost night. by the time i took the picture it looked like he had MAN BOOBS hehehehe he of course edited them out once the picture got on the computer hehehe

[Sir Griff]

I like Ser Brian's heraldic shield rather more than Edward's unfinished one. The crest on Brian's great helm is also somewhat more realistic than the Dragon on Edward's helm. In my opinion at least, the design of the dragon is a bit too modern. I think Ed's whole kit will look great when it's finished, however.

[Sir Edward]

I'm wonder if I should keep calling this my "13th Century" kit. I think the spaulders and crest are pretty firmly moving me into the 14th. Perhaps I should just call it my "-700 years kit", and declare it to be 1308 (for this year anyway).

On a whim, seeing as the weather cooperated and I otherwise ended up with the day free, I decided to head back down to VARF for the closing day. A couple of things came to light.

1)  As per what Brian and I had been discussing before, I pre-soaked the garments under the mail. How wonderful this is! It helped keep me cool all day. Your sweat replenishes it, and you get cooled very well whenever there's a breeze. I poured a bottle of water into the linen and mail before entering the faire, and it was still wet and cool at the end of the day.

2) My mail chausses... I need to seriously rethink how I've designed these. This was only the 3rd day I've taken them out, and they're failing. A hole about 1"x2" opened up over one of the knees, just from walking. And of course, as I was walking over to the final costume contest, one of them popped loose from my waist (the steel links failed). So without tools, I took my belts apart, and used my teeth to close the links, and got it to hold for the rest of the day. It's looking to me like I may need to make the whole thing out of steel, possibly, but more importantly I need to design them correctly and attach them to a leather thigh-covering, which in turn would be pointed at the waist or hips. I shouldn't be trying to reinvent the wheel.

Speaking of the costume contest, all "returning champions" won. They gave us all season passes for next year. Apparently they couldn't choose this time either.


Here are some pics of my armor from today. If you click to zoom on the first one, you can see the hole near the knee. Additional pics (of Kat) are also on my faire pics page for this year: http://ed.toton.org/cgi-bin/gallery.pl?year=2008&gallery=faire

   

[Sword Chick]

Looking good, Ed! 

Kat looks positively beautiful!

[Sir Wolf]

awsome. might try one of those diamond shapes placed over the knee around to allow for more room like we were talking about in tailoring mail.

[Sir Brian]

I don’t know, you still have the ailettes you can substitute for the spaulders and comfortably be
right back into the later 13th century…but yeah the crest would have to go in that case as they were
definitely in the 14th century era, still it’s always great to have versatility!

Yeah pre-soaking your undergarments is defiantly a must! Of course it can be a bit chilly when you
first put it on.

Hey congratulations on winning a season pass! Rosemary and I would have liked to have been there
for the closing weekend but it was my weekend to work.

Bummer about your chausses, but you’ll get them worked out! They are just too cool to abandon completely! 

[Sir Edward]

That's true, I still need to figure out what I'm doing with the ailettes.

I've renamed this thread in the meantime though. From what I understand, some crests started to appear in the 13th, but wouldn't have been common until sometime in the 14th. I'm curious when exactly they became widespread, as well as when the spaulders started catching on. The early 14th works for me. It's the time of the fall of the Templars, and the writings of Geoffroi de Charney. A lot of interesting history in there.

I managed to save myself some of the initial chill of putting on the shirt by wetting it while wearing it. I got half suited up, then poured the water all over myself, which felt great since I was already getting sweaty out in that parking lot! That's one of the nice things about the aluminum armor too... I could pour more through the armor and not worry about rust.

I haven't decided what to do with the chausses, in terms of going steel or reworking these. If I make something new, I can re-purpose these into mail greaves to attach to the padded cuisses or something. I've got time to think about it now. I probably won't be using them again until MD faire, unless something else comes up.

[Sir Edward]

Well, as I'm sure you'll remember, I left the VARF season with the chauses being in need of some serious love. With MDRF rapidly approaching (only a week away!), I decided to get back to work on these. Better late than never!

I've started working on the leather thigh-wrap that the mail will be stitched or tied onto:



I bought the leather for about $25 at Pennsic, and just needed to create a template and cut these out. I'll probably make the belt straps tie off after looping back onto themselves, and then punch some holes and tie the mail on around the edges, and use some cord or laces to tie the back-closure together.